Ball now in Eric Holder's court -- expect delay of game....
[B]etween October 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012, more than 2,800 [IRS] employees with recent substantiated conduct issues resulting in disciplinary action received more than $2.8 million in monetary awards, more than 27,000 hours in time-off awards, and 175 quality step increases. Among these, more than 1,100 IRS employees with substantiated Federal tax compliance problems received more than $1 million in cash awards, more than 10,000 hours in time-off awards, and 69 quality step increases within a year after the IRS substantiated their tax compliance problems.The report explains that “the most serious conduct issues included late payment and/or nonpayment of Federal taxes, Government travel card misuse or delinquency, Section 1203(b) violations, misconduct, and fraud issues.” Section 1203 of the 1998 IRS Restructuring and Reform Act provides that certain acts or omissions can be the basis of a removal for cause for misconduct. “Drug use and violent threats” are examples of misconduct, and “fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits and fraudulently entering attendance and leave on timesheets” are examples of fraud. The report includes the following table showing the extent of the problem:
Because Baseball and Steriods can't hurt Democrats...
(Lois Lerner Pleads 5th House Hearing 3-5-2014)[/caption]
Issa showed an email from Lerner in 2011 demonstrating hostility to the Tea Party and asked her about it, but she refused to answer questions about it:
[caption id="attachment_80338" align="alignnone" width="575"]
(Lois Lerner Exhibit House Hearing 3-5-2014)[/caption]
Lerner left the hearing without answering a single quesion:
Emails show negotiation over Lerner testimony, unclear what she will do tomorrow...
An attorney for Lois Lerner says the former Internal Revenue Service official still intends to continue to assert her Fifth Amendment rights before the House Oversight committee, despite earlier claims from a top GOP lawmaker Sunday that she would testify this week. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.),...
Encouraged by the lack of a public backlash, an uninquisitive press, cover from the White House and an eager-to-please bureaucracy, the Democrats are boldly counting on the IRS to be their political and policy enforcer.This statement isn’t an overreach by the “vast right-wing conspiracy” or a phony crisis created by hecklers (like me) on the right — it goes back to the early stages of President Obama’s reelection campaign.Rogers goes on to list some of the more egregious examples of what has occurred and how the administration has been emboldened by the fact that so far there have been few negative consequences to them for their actions. The hue and cry that might have been expected - and to a certain extent came at first, when some of the revelations about Tea Party harassment were revealed - has been muted and blunted. So now the excesses are being further and more openly institutionalized:
“While you were all celebrating Thanksgiving with family and friends, the Obama Administration was quietly releasing a new set of draconian IRS regulations that would make it virtually impossible for tea parties that want to participate in the political process to do their business. They’re going after conservative groups, they’re going after libertarian groups, and they’re going after citizen groups that want to organize people based on the values of the constitution; based on the ideas of freedom and have an impact on the political conversation.”In a nutshell, the agency will be using one of the administration's favorite tactics: Redefining terms. There would be favorable rulings for groups promoting "social welfare."
Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained email exchanges between former Internal Revenue Services (IRS) Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner and enforcement attorneys at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) indicating that the IRS provided detailed, confidential information concerning the tax exempt application status and returns of conservative groups to the FEC in violation of federal law. Included with the email exchanges were IRS questionnaires to a conservative group that contained questions of a hostile nature.... The bulk of the records obtained by Judicial Watch consist of extensive materials from the IRS’ files sent from Lerner to the FEC containing detailed, confidential information about the organizations. These include annual tax returns (Forms 990) and request for exempt recognition forms (Form 1024), Articles of Organization and other corporate documents, and correspondence between the nonprofit organizations and the IRS. Under Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code, it is a felony for an IRS official to disclose either “return information” or “taxpayer return information,” even to another government agency.Earlier in the week Eliana Johnson at National review detailed the results of IRS leaks about the National Organization for Marriage to its political opponent, the pro-gay marriage Human Rights Campaitn. Most outrageous is how the the law protects the identify of the illegal leaker. Investigation IDs IRS Leaker:
Great news for the mostly furloughed IRS, now mostly out of sight, out of mind. The new rallying cry across the nation is "Don't Barrycade me, bro!" https://twitter.com/LegInsurrection/status/387977265591504896 (Video added h/t Hot Air)(see our prior post for background): ...
Cruz, that is. And he's hoping to make your wish come true. From J, taken in Charlottesville, VA: Update (h/t Twitchy) https://twitter.com/SenTedCruz/status/354292225192124416...
There was joy in liberal blogospheric Mudville when it was reported that terms like "progressive" also were used as a screening mechanism. PROOF! The IRS Scandal was not a scandal! Uh, yes, it was a scandal. Via The Hill, Treasury IG: Liberal groups weren't targeted by IRS like...
In the wake of intense criticism over the agency's targeting of conservative groups, former and current embattled IRS officials, Steven Miller and Lois Lerner, have reportedly received threats of physical violence. From Sky News: Ousted IRS acting commissioner Steven Miller has received threats, a source told Reuters...
Following the unfolding scandal of the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of the Tea Party, I keep the following thought in mind: Neither party in Congress can be relied upon to satisfactorily resolve this issue. They created the IRS, fund the IRS, and oversee the IRS. All...
Question Professor, I live in the liberal blue state of California. I really get the sense that liberals are trying to outlaw everything that conservatives find important. It really feels like they look at a menu of conservative issues, values, and hobbies and pick the next thing...
This just in tonight, an IRS source in the agency’s Cincinnati office says that Lois Lerner, one of the officials at the center of the IRS scandal, has been placed on administrative leave (with pay). From National Review Online: Lerner on Thursday afternoon sent an e-mail to...
Lois Lerner famously purported to invoke the 5th Amendment privilege against self-incrimination yesterday while appearing before Congress. A number of people have reached out to me to ask me to write about it. Unfortunately, it's outside my area of experience and I don't have time to...
